High End UK Production Spend up as Shows are Finding Distribution

High End UK productions are finding distribution internationally. The BFI reported spend on High End Scripted Productions in the UK grew by more than 50% in 2019 and the interest for them across Show Tracker markets indicates the increased spend is worth it.

Distributors such as All3Media are achieving wide distribution with SVOD, with Baptiste picked up by StarzPlay and Informer by Amazon in some Show Tracker markets while Traitors is on Netflix in every market outside the UK & Ireland.

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High End series co-produced with US partners in turn can affect the reach of a show. In the case of Good Omens, Amazon received global first window rights to the show, even in the UK, and so it has reached every Show Tracker market with Amazon Prime.

Other partners such as HBO receive the benefit of appearing on high profile Warner owned services such as HBO or volume deal partners such as Hotstar in India.

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Among all of the High End UK Productions from 2019 included in the BFI study that are Show Tracker shows, distribution has reached a wide variety of services across all markets, with demand coming from Free & Pay TV as well as SVOD.

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As expected, shows find the most success in anglo-phonic countries with 60% achieving distribution on average, outside of these territories distribution success is more mixed.

Of the 2019 shows included in the BFI study, North American Show Tracker markets take 54% of High End UK shows, Europe is close behind with 50% acquisition while Latin America only take 32%.

Meanwhile there is a low pickup of high end UK shows in Asian Show Tracker markets, with Indian pick ups of UK content coming solely from SVOD and China still engaging in limited acquisition activity of any newer shows.